Mail program for processing multiple e-mail messages

ABSTRACT

A mail program allows a user to simultaneously process multiple email messages ( 130, 150 ) to separate recipients or groups of recipients. A primary email has a primary message ( 130 ) to be sent, and a secondary email has a floater or secondary message ( 150 ). The secondary email is associated with the primary email, but directed to a different set of recipients than the primary email.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to software programs for processingmessages. More particularly, the present invention relates to a mailprogram for processing multiple emails.

2. Description of the Related Art

Electronic mail (or “email”) is the transmission of a message over anetwork and has become a ubiquitous form of communication. Email iscommonly processed by a mail program or a mail service which accessesmail servers in a local or remote network. A mail program (also known asa “mail client”) is a software application that is installed on a user'scomputer or PC and can either be a stand-alone program, such as Eudoraor Outlook, or built into a Web browser. A mail service, on the otherhand, is a software application that is accessed on the Web by abrowser, such as Yahoo. Typical mail programs and mail services includesuch basic features as formatting, sending, receiving and organizingemail. Email can be sent, for instance, over the Internet, privateintranets or LANs. As used herein, however, the phrase “mail program”refers to any system that processes email, and includes both mailclients and mail services.

Users can send mail to a single recipient or broadcast the message tomultiple users. The mail is usually sent to a mail server or hostcomputer for the mail recipient. Most email include a header with threerecipient fields, namely To, Cc (carbon copy) and Bcc (blind carboncopy). When sending to multiple recipients, the sender usually placesthe email address for each primary recipient(s) in the To field, and theemail address for any secondary or additional recipient(s) in the Cc orBcc fields. All the recipients of an email are able to view the nameand/or email address for each of the To and Cc recipients, but the nameand email address for each Bcc recipient only appear to that Bccrecipient.

One limitation of current mail programs, however, is that they are onlyable to process a single message for a single recipient or group ofrecipients. In addition, if the sender wishes to send a differentmessage to a subset of recipients of a primary message, the sender wouldhave to first send the primary email, then locate that primary email inhis/her Sent mailbox (if the user's mail program is set up toautomatically place all sent email in a Sent mailbox) and forward thatprimary email to the subset of recipients in a separate email with thedifferent message.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the foregoing, one object of the present invention is toprovide a mail program that is capable of simultaneously processingmultiple messages. It is another object of the invention to provide amail program that can process a primary message having a set ofrecipients and one or more secondary messages having a subset ofrecipients. It is yet another object of the invention to provide a mailprogram that can process a primary message having a set of recipientsand one or more secondary messages having a different set of recipients.It is still another object of the invention to provide a mail programthat can process a primary message having a set of recipients, one ormore secondary messages having a subset of recipients, and one or moretertiary messages having a different set of recipients. It is yetanother object of the invention to provide a mail program with primaryand secondary messages which can be processed by the recipient's serverand/or mail program as an attachment in a conventional manner.

In accordance with these and other objects, the invention is a mailprogram that allows a user to simultaneously process multiple emailmessages to separate recipients or groups of recipients. A primary emailhas a primary message to be sent, and a secondary email or floatermessage is associated with the primary email, but directed to adifferent set of recipients than the primary email.

These and other objects of the invention, as well as many of theintended advantages thereof, will become more readily apparent whenreference is made to the following description, taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an outgoing email in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 shows an email received by the recipient TechDept@Acme.com of theemail shown in FIG. 1 in accordance with the invention, and;

FIGS. 3 and 4 show an alternative embodiment of the invention, in whichthe primary message and the secondary message are accessed by tabs.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In describing a preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated in thedrawings, specific terminology will be resorted to for the sake ofclarity. However, the invention is not intended to be limited to thespecific terms so selected.

Turning to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows an outgoing email 100 having aprimary message box 130. Various floater message boxes 150 are providedin accordance with the present invention. The email 100 has four maincomponents: the toolbar 110, header 120, primary message box 130 andattachment box 140. One or more floater message boxes 150 can beassociated with the email 100, as desired by the sender. Each floatermessage box 150 can optionally have its own toolbar, header and/orattachment boxes. The primary message box 130 contains a primary messagewhich is sent to all the recipients listed in the header 120, and thesecondary message box 150 contains a secondary message which is sentonly to a subset of the recipients.

The toolbar 110 contains various command icons, such as a Send commandicon 112, Bold command icon 114 and a Floater command icon 116. Thecommands can also be provided in a pull-down menu (not shown) that canbe located across the top of the email 100 in accordance with well-knowntechniques. The Send command 112 is used to send the email 100,including the floater message boxes 150, to each of the variousrecipients listed in the header 120 and associated with the respectivefloater message box 150. If the user clicks on the floater command icon116, a floater message box 150 is created.

The email header 120 includes the standard fields, To 122, Cc 124 andBcc 126. In addition, one or more Fcc (floater carbon copy) fields 128can optionally be provided. The user enters the email address for eachof the primary recipients of the primary message 130 in the standardfields 122, 124 and 126. The Fcc field 128 allows the user to create afloater message box 150 to be sent to the recipients listed in the Fccfield 128.

The message box 130 contains the primary message 132 that is to be sentto each of the recipients listed in the standard header fields 122, 124,126. The attachment box 140 is displayed when an attachment 142 is to besent with the email 100.

The floater message box can be a separate box that is connected to theassociated email 100 by a connector or lead line 152. The connector 152can extend from the floater message box 150 to the recipient address inthe Fcc field 128, or to a particular highlighted text 134 in themessage box 130 that is associated with the floater message box 150.

Alternatively, the floater message box 150 can be incorporated into theemail 100, but set off from the email 100 by a vertical, horizontaland/or diagonal divider 154. The divider 154 can have any size or shape,such as a small square, rectangle or cutaway that is positioned alongthe side, or in the corner of, the email 100. The floater message box150 can be physically located either internal or external to the email100. Still yet, the floater message box 150 can be in the form of anattachment 142 that is located in the attachment box 140 of the email100.

In operation, the floater message can be created at any time during thecreation of an email 100. The user selects the floater command from thepull-down menu (not shown), by clicking on the icon 116, or by enteringan email address in one of the Fcc fields 128. When the floater commandis selected, user options are presented which permit the user to selectthe type of floater message that is desired, such as an oval callout orballoon, an appended message with a divider 154, a box-shape with anoptional connector 152, or the use of selectors 302, 304 (see FIGS. 3and 4). The user can drag and drop the connector 152 as desired, oreliminate the connector 152 altogether, so that the floater message box150 would appear to the user as a separate email. Alternatively, theuser need not be presented with the options 118, and instead one of thefloater messages 150 can be displayed by default.

The user can also associate the floater message box 150 with specifictext of the email message box 130. The user selects the desired messagetext 132, then selects the floater command (i.e., by entering an Fccaddress, clicking on the floater icon 116, etc.). The desired text isautomatically distinguished, such as by highlighting that text, asrepresented by the underlining of highlighted text 134. In addition, thefloater message box 150 is associated with that selected text. Forinstance, the connector 152 extends to the highlighted text 134, or theballoon points to the highlighted text 134. Another option is to inserta designator 136 (such as F1) at the end of the highlighted text thatidentifies the floater message associated with that text. The associatedfloater message includes that same designator. The dashed lines in FIG.1 reflect that there is an association between the designator 136 andthe respective floater message 150. However, the dashed lines arepreferably not displayed to the user.

However, the manner and type of floater message boxes 150 are not to belimited to the embodiments shown, and suitable alternatives will bereadily apparent to those of ordinary skill. For instance, the email 100can include a view floater command that the user can select to view afloater message box 150. The user can then type a floater message andthen identify the floater message recipient. The floater message box canalso be in the form of tabs 302, 304 which are used to separate theprimary and secondary messages 306, 308, respectively, as shown in FIGS.3 and 4. The floater message box 150 preferably displays a secondarymessage in a manner which distinguishes the secondary message from aprimary message. The floater message box 150 need not be a “box” or anyparticular shape or size.

Once the floater message box 150 is created, the user enters a floatermessage (i.e., a secondary message) in the floater message box 150 andattaches any attachments. The floater message box 150 is addressed toone or more floater recipients. The floater recipient(s) can be any ofthe recipient(s) of the primary message. In addition, the floaterrecipient(s) can be a different recipient that isn't receiving theprimary message. In such instances, the floater message box 150 andemail 100 are preferably switched, such that the floater recipientreceives the floater message 150 as the primary email, and the email 100forms the floater message or an attachment to the email.

Preferably, the floater message boxes 150 can include the standard emailheader fields of To, Cc and Bcc, as well as the Fcc field (to provide afloater message within a floater message). Accordingly, the sender cancontrol the floating message box 150 recipients. In addition, commands(such as All, All To, All Cc, All Bcc, All Fcc, All but To, All but Cc,All but Bcc, and All but Fcc) can be provided to indicate that thefloating message box 150 is to be sent to certain ones of the recipientslisted in the email header 120 (such as to all of the listed recipients,all of the To recipients, all of the Cc recipients, etc., respectively).In an alternative embodiment, the Fcc field 128 can be replaced by an Fm(floating message) field that can be user-defined to specificrecipients, with Fto, Fcc, Fbc fields, for instance, which wouldindicate that the floating message is to be sent to all the To, Cc orBcc recipients, respectively. In addition, a field, such as Fall, couldbe provided such that the recipients listed in that field receive theprimary message 132, and all floater messages.

In the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 1, the email 100 is directed toprimary recipients Worker1@Acme.com through Worker5@Acme.com, asreflected in the standard fields 122, 124, 126. The user then enters anaddress, CEO@Acme.com, to a first Fcc field, Fcc1, and a second address,SalesDept@Acme.com to a second Fcc field, Fcc2. Thus, the CEO andSalesDept will not only receive the primary message 132, but also thespecific floater messages 150 addressed to them. In this example, theCEO and SalesDept are listed in the Fcc field 128 for the floatermessage 150 shown in the bottom-right corner of the email 100. However,the recipients of floater messages need not be shown in the Fcc field128.

In addition, the CEO receives the floater message addressed to theSalesDept since the CEO is listed as a bcc in that floater message box150. The primary recipients, Worker1-Worker 5, only receive the primarymessage, but not any of the floater messages, except that Worker3 andWorker4 receive the one floater message box 150 addressed to them, andwhich is associated with the highlighted text 134. The recipient,TechDept receives the floater message to Worker3 and Worker 4, as wellas the floater message contained within the floater message to Worker3and Worker4.

Turning to FIG. 2, an incoming email 200 is shown that is associatedwith a floater message box 250. In accordance with the example of FIG.1, the incoming email 200 is for the TechDept recipient. The recipientsees all the recipients down the chain from the highest-order floatingmessage. That is, the TechDept recipient sees the floating messagedirected to it, as well as the floating message directed to Worker3 andWorker4, and the primary email message 232. The TechDept also sees therecipients of the downstream messages, including the Bcc to the primarymessage, Worker5. For the option in which the floater message 250 isassociated with highlighted text and/or a designator 236, the floatermessage 250 is preferably hidden when first received. The recipientaccesses the floater message 250 by passing a mouse over the highlightedtext 234, by clicking on the designator 236, or by clicking on a generalFloater icon 216.

On the other hand, the recipient does not see any of the floatingmessages that are not in its chain. Thus, in the example of FIG. 1, theTechDept does not see the floating message to the CEO and the floatingmessage to the SalesDept and CEO. If the sender did not wish theTechDept recipient to see the Bcc to the primary message, the sendercould have removed Worker5 from the Bcc, and created a floating messageto Worker5 alone. Alternatively, a separate field (for instance, a Bccthat follows the Fcc fields 120) could be created to indicate thatlisted recipient(s) only receive the primary message 132, and are notseen by any other recipient, including recipient(s) of any floatingmessage.

The email 200 and floater messages 250 are preferably displayed in themanner selected by the sender of the email 100. However, the recipient'smail program (or mail server) also permits the recipient to setpreferences on how incoming floater messages 250 are to be displayed.Thus, for instance, the sender can format the floater message 150 with aconnector 152 internal to the email 100. However, the recipient canchoose to display any floater message as an attachment 142 or as anexternal message.

The email 200, and each floater message 250, includes a Reply command212 and Reply All command 214 that permit the recipient to respond tothe sender(s). The Reply command 212 in each floater message 250 enablesthe user to respond to the floater message 250, in which case theoriginal message 200 is preferably not repeated. However, the floatermessage 250 can also be formed as the primary message of the replyemail, and the original email 100 is an attachment. The Reply Allcommand 214 in the email 200 enables the recipient to reply to thefloater message 250 and the email 200, such that the email 200 remainsassociated with the reply.

The email 200, and each floater message 250, further includes a Deletecommand (not shown) that permits the recipient to delete the respectivemessage. Thus, the recipient can delete a floating message 250, andretain the primary email 200. Or, the recipient can delete the primaryemail 200, and retain the floating message 250. The primary email 200also has a main delete command that allows the recipient to delete boththe primary email 200 and floater message 250 at the same time.

Turning to FIGS. 3 and 4, the primary message 306 and secondary message308 are placed within the same email 100, and primary and secondaryselectors or tabs 302, 304 are used to toggle between the differentmessages. The recipient of a given message is listed in the tabs 302,304 corresponding to the message. Thus, in the example of FIGS. 3 and 4,“Workers 1, 2, 3” are displayed in the primary tab 302 corresponding tothe primary message 306 since each of those recipients receive theprimary message 306. However, only “Workers 2 and 3” are displayed inthe secondary tab 304 corresponding to the secondary message 308 sinceonly Workers 2 and 3 receive the secondary message 308. The tabs 302,304 can appear once the user enters an address in the Fcc field, and therecipients name (i.e., everything before the “@” in the Fcc field) canbe automatically displayed in the tab. Alternatively, the user canselect the floater command 116, which will create the tabs 302, 304.

The tabs 302, 304 enable the primary and secondary messages 306, 308 tobe clearly distinguished from each other, and at the same time notifythe recipient as to the presence of a secondary message 308 directedonly to that recipient. Though not shown, the secondary message 308 cancontain the To, Cc, Bcc, and Fcc fields, and any recipient named in aBcc and/or Fcc field need not be displayed to the other recipients inthe corresponding tab 304. Each secondary message preferably has its owntab, though one secondary message can be displayed by a tab, and anothersecondary message can be displayed as an attachment, etc.

Of course, the primary recipient, Worker 1 in the example of FIGS. 3 and4, is only receiving the primary message 306. Thus, the primary message306 need not be displayed in association with a separate tab 302, butinstead is displayed in the normal fashion. The secondary recipient,Worker 2 in the example, receives both the primary message 306 and thesecondary message 308. The tabs 302, 304 allow the recipient, Worker 2,as well as the sender, to move between the primary and secondarymessages 306, 308, and clearly differentiates the separate message andseparate recipients.

When a floater message 150 is created and the email 100 is sent, themail program preferably sends the floater message 150 as part of asingle message with email 100. That is, for the example of FIG. 1, themail program transmits eight (8) mail messages: the primary email toeach of Worker1-Worker5, with Worker3 and Worker 4 receiving theadditional floater message 150; the CEO receives the primary message 130and two floater messages 150; the SalesDept receives the primary message130 and one floater message 150; and, the TechDept receives the primarymessage 130 and two floater messages 150.

Accordingly, each recipient only receives a single email message, someof which also include a floater message. However, the email 100 andfloater messages 150 can be transmitted in any suitable manner, such asseparate emails that are linked together by the recipient's mailprogram. In sending the email 100, the mail program and/or sender'sserver preferably first determines all of the various recipients, thencycles through each recipient and identifies the floater message(s), ifany, to be sent to that recipient. The mail program and/or sender'sserver then sends a single email to each recipient.

Preferably, however, the sender's mail program and/or server simplyindicates that a secondary message is being sent as an attachment sothat the recipient's mail program and/or server (which currently processattachments) need not be specially configured to process the secondarymessage in a different manner. The sender's server need only recognizethat the attachment is only directed to the subset of recipients, suchas by checking the Fcc field and/or checking the To and Cc fields of thefloater message box 150.

The recipient's server simply processes the secondary message as astandard attachment in a conventional manner. Of course, the recipient'smail program and/or server can be configured to recognize secondarymessages sent in other forms, such as the floater boxes 150, and or tabs302, 304 (FIGS. 3 and 4), and process them accordingly. The sender'sserver can also check whether the recipient server will recognize thefloater message 150 before sending the email 100 and, if not, then thesender's server only sends the floater message 150 as an attachment tothat server, so that the recipient's server need not be speciallyconfigured to receive the secondary message.

Alternatively, the secondary message 150 can be sent to all therecipients listed in the To, Cc, Bcc and Fcc fields, but hidden from allthe recipients except for the Fcc recipients. The secondary message 150can be hidden, for instance, by defining a special format within thesecondary message, or by having the recipient server recognize thatcertain text is to be hidden from the recipient.

Once the email 100 is sent, the email 100 appears in the sender's Sentmailbox with a special designator indicating that a floater message 150was attached to the email 100. Similarly, when an email 100 is stillbeing created and appears in the user's Draft mailbox, that email 100can appear as a special designator, such as a balloon icon, in the Draftmailbox, to indicate that the email 100 has a floater message 150.Likewise, when a recipient receives an email 200 that contains a floatermessage 250 for that recipient, the email 200 is designated by a specialicon in the recipient's Inbox to indicate that the email 200 containsthe floater message 250.

Though the floater message box 150 has been described as beingparticularly advantageous when there are multiple recipients to an email100, it can also be used where there is a single email recipient. Thefloater message 150 can be used by the sender to make remarks about theprimary message 132 that the sender doesn't want to put directly in theprimary message 132. Thus, for instance, the sender may wish to submit aprimary message (such as a draft letter to a third party, a paper orpublication being co-authored by the sender and recipient, etc.) to arecipient, and use the floater box 150 to make reference to differentpoints of the primary message without marking the primary message.

As another example, the email 100 can be a Reply or Forward email, andthe primary message 132 can be the text of the original message. Thesender can use the floater message boxes 150 to make remarks about theoriginal message without disturbing the original message. In thisregard, floater messages can also be used in a newsgroup or threadedmessages, or one of the recipients of the email 100 can be a newsgroup.

The floater message boxes 150, 250 can have any suitable size or shape,and can be presented in any manner to distinguish it from the primarymessage, such as, for example, by change in color, an audible indicator,location (internal or external to the email 100, 200), and/or pop-upwhen the user passes the cursor over highlighted text or selects thefloating message icon. In addition, the floater messages 150, 250 neednot be presented in boxes, but can be incorporated into the text 132 ofthe email 100. Thus, for instance, the sender can designate certain text132 to be seen by different recipients of an email 100.

In addition, message viewers or pre-viewers which permit the message tobe displayed in a viewing pane without actually opening the email, canbe provided with two or more viewing panes to separately display theprimary message and the secondary message. The primary message can alsobe prepared as a first or primary email, and the secondary message canbe prepared as a separate second or secondary email, which are thenlinked together by the sender's email program and/or sender's server sothat the secondary message is an attachment to the primary email.

The foregoing descriptions and drawings should be considered asillustrative only of the principles of the invention. The invention maybe configured in a variety of shapes and sizes and is not limited by thedimensions of the preferred embodiment. Numerous applications of thepresent invention will readily occur to those skilled in the art.Therefore, it is not desired to limit the invention to the specificexamples disclosed or the exact construction and operation shown anddescribed. Rather, all suitable modifications and equivalents may beresorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.

1. A mail program comprising: a first email (100) having a first message(130) with at least one primary recipient; and, a second email (150)having a second message with at least one secondary recipient, thesecond email associated with the first email.
 2. The mail program ofclaim 1, wherein the second email is processed by the mail programsimultaneously with the first email.
 3. The mail program of claim 1,wherein each of the at least one secondary recipient(s) are differentthan the at least one primary recipient(s).
 4. The mail program of claim1, wherein the at least one secondary recipient(s) are the same as theat least one primary recipient(s).
 5. The mail program of claim 1,further comprising a plurality of primary recipients, wherein the atleast one secondary recipient is one of the plurality of primaryrecipients.
 6. The mail program of claim 1, wherein the first messageand the second message are created by a sender and simultaneouslytransmitted by the mail program.
 7. The mail program of claim 1, whereinthe first message and the second message are simultaneously received bythe mail program for one of the primary recipient and secondaryrecipient.
 8. The mail program of claim 1, wherein the first email andthe second email are transmitted to each of the at least one primaryrecipient and the at least one secondary recipient as a singleelectronic mail.
 9. The mail program of claim 1, wherein at least one ofthe at least one secondary recipients receives the first message and thesecond message.
 10. The mail program of claim 1, wherein at least one ofthe at least one primary recipient receives the first message, but notthe second message.
 11. The mail program of claim 1, wherein said mailprogram comprises a mail service.
 12. The mail program of claim 1,wherein said mail program comprises a mail client.
 13. An email (100)comprising: a primary window having a primary message (130, 302) with atleast one primary recipient; and, a secondary window having a secondarymessage (150, 304) with at least one secondary recipient, the secondarywindow separate from and associated with the primary window.
 14. Theemail of claim 13, wherein each of the at least one recipient(s) aredifferent than the at least one primary recipient(s).
 15. The email ofclaim 13, wherein the secondary window is sent to, but not displayed to,the primary recipient.
 16. The email of claim 13, further comprising aprimary tab associated with the primary window and a secondary tabassociated with the secondary window, wherein the primary and secondarytabs enable the selective display of the primary window and secondarywindow.
 17. A software application having instructions that, whenexecuted by a processor, cause the processor to execute the stepscomprising the steps of: processing a primary email (100) having atleast one primary recipient; and, processing a secondary email (150)having at least one secondary recipient, the secondary email associatedwith the primary email and processed simultaneously with the processingof the primary message.
 18. The software application of claim 17,wherein each of the at least one secondary recipient(s) are differentthan the at least one primary recipient.
 19. The software application ofclaim 17, wherein said processing the primary email comprises generatingthe primary email and said processing the secondary message comprisesgenerating the secondary email.
 20. The software application of claim17, wherein said processing the primary email comprises receiving theprimary email and said processing the secondary email comprisesreceiving the secondary email.